Robin
Eli MarienthalBatman: Mystery of the Batwoman Shane Sweet , "Future Shock" Andrea Romano (Joker Junior) Dean Stockwell (Middle-aged) }} The second Robin, real name Timothy "Tim" Drake, replaced Dick Grayson. History Early life Tim Drake was the son of Gotham City criminal Steven "Shifty" Drake, who was often a thug for the crime lord Two-Face. He had very little respect for his father, and often had to fend for himself. Around the age of 10, Tim began to idolize Gotham City hero Batman and placed newspaper clippings on his wall. After Batman left a batarang behind at a crime scene, Tim found it and began using it himself. When his father double crossed Two-Face, he left Tim a note and a key to a Gotham City airport locker. This key was discovered by Two-Face's henchmen when they briefly kidnapped young Tim. Two-Face flipped his coin, and decided to execute Tim, but Batman showed up and rescued him. Soon after, they discovered that Tim's father was killed outside of Gotham. With no place to go, Bruce Wayne adopted Tim and began to put him under his tutelage as the next Robin. , "Sins of the Father" Adventures As Robin Almost immediately, Robin began working in the field. One of his first acts was helping Batman thwart the Joker's attempt to kill Gothamites with his Joker Gas during a New Year's Eve celebration.Idem, "Holiday Knights" Later, when Mister Freeze began targeting assorted people in order to destroy people's hope, Freeze went after Bruce Wayne's family. Freeze at first considered freezing Tim Drake, the surrogate son, but ultimately decided to go after Alfred. Tim was left behind to watch over Alfred when Batman and Batgirl went after Mr. Freeze.Idem, "Cold Comfort" During one night of working solo, Tim came to the aid of a young girl with amnesia, whom he named Annie. He developed a bit of a crush on the girl, who seemed to be living in constant fear of an unknown assailant. She later proved to be a lost creation of Clayface, who had created her in order to scout out Gotham for his inevitable return. Unfortunately, the girl had "forgotten" her purpose and continued to run. When Clayface reabsorbed the girl, Tim took her "murder" very hard and almost killed Clayface.Idem, "Growing Pains" When Bruce Wayne mysteriously went missing, Tim was left to protect Gotham on his own while Nightwing and Batgirl travelled abroad in search of the billionaire, thinking that Ra's al Ghul had had a hand in the disappearance. When Superman arrived in Gotham, having heard of Batman's disappearance himself, he and Robin teamed up. With Tim as his guide, Superman was able to successfully masquerade as Batman for a time, and together, the duo discovered that Bruce was actually under the control of Brainiac's mind-controlling nanites. Together they managed to save Bruce and Brainiac was destroyed yet again. , "Knight Time" At some point in his life as Robin, Tim Drake became a member of a superhero group known as the Titans. , "Hard as Nails" Sometime after Dick Grayson left Gotham for good to establish himself in another city, Robin was patrolling alone one night. Upon hearing a scream for help, Robin thought he was rushing to the aid of a lone woman being accosted by thugs when, in fact, he was falling into a trap set by the Joker and Harley Quinn. For the next three long weeks, at the old Arkham Asylum, Tim was mercilessly tortured with electro-shock and chemical injections. During the course of these torture sessions, the Joker extracted the precious secrets entrusted to Robin. Not content with just destroying Tim's mind, he sought to further humiliate Batman. To this end, the Joker transformed young Robin into a crude, child-like version of himself. Tim's skin was bleached white, his hair dyed green, and his mouth was twisted into a grotesque, Joker-like grin. Because of the torture, disfigurement and brainwashing he endured for three weeks, he was also rendered unable to communicate in any way except with demented laughter. Re-naming him "Joker Junior", aka "J.J.", the Joker claimed Drake as his and Harley's new son, and planned on using Drake to destroy Batman. During the battle that followed, the Joker gave Tim a gun and ordered him to kill Batman with it. Tim laughed uncontrollably and fought with the choice of whether or not to kill Batman. He finally killed the Joker instead, after which he completely broke down in the arms of Batgirl. After these events, Commissioner Gordon quickly covered up the incident and none of the details were ever made public. After the traumas that he suffered, Tim was shatterred physically and psychologically. To help him recover, a close friend of the Wayne family, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, spent a year treating Tim. Despite this, Tim would suffer horrible dreams for years. After what happened to Tim, Batman, feeling responsible for what happened, forbade Tim from donning the Robin costume ever again. Drake went out on his own as a hero and attempted several times to mend things with Bruce, only to fail. Later Years .]] Later in his life, Tim completely gave up the life of a hero, instead becoming a top-level communications engineer, a husband, and father of two. He apparently ended up regretting ever being Robin and had even less love for the Robin suit than the Joker did. Despite his apparent hatred for his secret life during his teenage years, he still had a relationship with Barbara Gordon. Tim's relationship with Bruce was somewhat rockier, and like his life as Robin, Tim felt nothing but bitterness and scorn for his former mentor. It was later revealed, however, that much of his hatred for Bruce and his life as Robin was caused by another source entirely. As it turned out, during the time that Tim had been under the Joker's "care", the clown had planted a Project Cadmus microchip with his own memories and DNA onto Tim's spinal column. As the years passed, the micro-chip activated, allowing the Joker's personality to emerge and take control of Tim, explaining his increased hatred for the identity of Robin and Batman. The chip would also physically transform Tim into an exact replica of the Clown Prince of Crime. Using Tim's communication engineering skills to take control of a satellite with a powerful weaponized laser onboard, the newly reborn Joker went on a crime spree. Ultimately, however, Terry McGinnis, the new Batman, was able to destroy the microchip, freeing Tim, who had all along been unaware of what had been seeded inside him. Following the Joker's defeat, Tim was taken to the hospital for his injuries, and was visited by Terry, Barbara, and Bruce Wayne. Barbara, now Commissioner of the Gotham Police Department, covered up Tim's involvement in the Joker's crimes, as he was technically innocent. As Terry took his leave to let Bruce and Tim catch up, Tim told Terry that he was more than worthy of being Batman, and Terry said that it meant a lot coming from him.Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Background information In the comics, Tim Drake was the third person to take the identity of Robin. The, second, Jason Todd, was the previous holder of the title until he was killed by the Joker. The animated Tim Drake seems to mix together certain elements of both Jason and the comic-book Tim. Like Jason, he was an orphan and a former thief living on the streets until he was taken in by Batman when his father disappeared after working for Two-Face. He also had a very rebellious streak that had a tendency to put him in trouble. Jason was also much more prone to be willing to endanger the lives of criminals if provoked and the animated Tim almost killed Clayface after his absorption of Annie. It is also worthy to note that, like Jason, the animated Tim's career as Robin was brought to a tragic and horrifying end by the Joker. However, the animated Tim did share a few qualities with his comic counterpart, in that he showed surprising knowledge and skill for detective work and was very adept at working with computers if need be. Like his comic version, the animated Tim also had somewhat of an early romantic interest in a person from the streets (Annie for the DCAU version, Lynx for the comic version). Appearances and references * "Holiday Knights" * "Sins of the Father" * "Cold Comfort" * "Never Fear" * "Growing Pains" * "The Demon Within" * "Over the Edge" * "Critters" * "Animal Act" * "Old Wounds" * "Legends of the Dark Knight" * "Chemistry" * "Beware the Creeper" Featured film * Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman * "Knight Time" * "Lost Soul" * "Babel" Featured film * Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker * "The Big Leagues" * "Hard as Nails" * " " * "Future Shock" * "Gotham in Pink" * "The Savage Time, Part I" * "Hereafter, Part I" * "Epilogue" }} References External links * Category:A to Z Drake, Tim Category:Individuals proficient in martial arts Category:Superheroes